paper: The back to school season (scrapbooking workshops) | pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.}

Today was the first day of the autumn term for all the schools in my neighbourhood, and the oldest of the neighbour kids is about eight, so there is a certain bliss to hearing them chat outside my window, not yet old enough to have much attitude. Today they were comparing notes about how fabulous school was and talking about all the important stuff like the colour of their exercise books, the quality of school lunch and the extreme height of the older kids. Super sweet!

I love the back to school feeling so much that I may have pulled out a new notebook for a little something I’m working on at the moment, but even if I’m not going back to school in a traditional sense, there’s a whole bunch of back-to-class stuff on my calendar right now. There’s a chance it might be up your street too, so here’s what I’m up to this autumn!

True Scrap II (aka Spawn of True Scrap)
True Scrap is like a scrapbooking convention you can attend at home – no travel costs, no hotel bills and no one will know if you go to class in your pajamas. True Scrap includes seventeen workshop videos and live chat throughout the event, plus you also get access to all the recordings after the weekend too, so you can make it fit your schedule or you can come back to workshops you would like to watch again. My session is called Go with the Flow and it’s all about looking at any album in your collection, identifying any gaps and adding in the finishing touches to make it extra fabulous in both design and storytelling. So excited about that! The other teachers include Jennifer McGuire, Nichol Magouirk, May Flaum, Aby Garvey, Kelli Crowe, Kristina Werner and ten other awesome instructors, each presenting a workshop on a unique topic. Plus five make & take project tutorials on top of that. Plus an interview with Cathy Zielske. Seriously cool. True Scrap II will take place on the 20th – 22nd of October, and you can sign up here.

One more plus for True Scrap: sign up by clicking through from shimelle.com (click here) then forward a copy of your receipt to shimelle@gmail.com and I’ll give you a class pass for your choice of any class hosted here too.

Teach Crafts like a Rock Star
Teach like a Rock Star is a course run by Sudie Alexander from UnKit. It’s aimed at those who want to take their love of crafting and share with others through fabulous classes, taught in person or online. Along with Sudie’s curriculum, there are also several guests contributing a session, and I’m one of those! I’ll be there with a video presentation with insight on teaching online. If you want to teach like a rock star, put the 22nd of September on your calendar and sign up here.
OR right now, sign up with this early bird special for half the price!

And the same bonus applies: sign up by clicking through from here (even the early bird offer) then forward a copy of your receipt to shimelle@gmail.com and you can have a class pass for your choice of any shimelle.com class.

But one last thing – and this one is right here and it’s completely free and I hope you’ll join me. It’s called Camera School. Here’s the thing: I don’t want to be a full-time photographer or anything. I am not some amazing photography expert. But I love taking pictures. I love the process of learning something new on my camera or getting an idea for a shot and then making it real. I love shooting without thinking and seeing what I can get just as much as I love paying absolute attention to the most minute of details. Photography for me is so very fun and because of that I could talk about it all day. So I’ve put together a bunch of posts to run throughout the month to share my photo love. Little things I’ve discovered, what works for me and what doesn’t, things from other photographers that inspire me to create something more beautiful. I’m calling it Camera School because it’s back to school time, not because you’re going to walk away from the posts with a degree in photography, of course. But if you want to give some of the ideas a try, I’d be thrilled. Even if you just bookmark them for a rainy day. It’s free, so bring a friend, grab a camera and you’re all set. The first Camera School post goes live Tuesday! (Don’t worry, there is scrapbooking stuff too – this is in addition rather than a replacement!)

And to answer a question that has appeared in my inbox a few times this week – no, it’s not to late to sign up for Learn Something New Every Day! It’s never too late – you can join at any time!

Oh back to school time: I still love you so.

xlovesx

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05 September 2011

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